In The Steps Of Kings

On Sunday October 12th we headed south to check out Hohenz.ollern Castle:

Even after driving up quite a hill to get to the parking lot we still had to climb farther to get to the actual castle:

Once there we discovered the castle was hosting a small festival. The boys immediately joined in on trying to pop the giant bubbles the Bubble Man was blowing:

And occasionally they did actually pop one!

Of course, that meant they were covered in bubble remnants:

We eventually forced the boys to go inside the castle. Because it was a festival day they were having what they called 'Walk Like A King' day - instead of having to go through as part of a guided tour, we got to go through  the castle at our own pace. Plus they gave us royal capes and slidey shoes to wear!

With the tour out of the way we needed a quick snack before making our way back down the hill - good thing the festival had an ice cream cart!

We tried to leave but the boys spotted a cannon. They had to try and climb it like everyone else:

Pearson didn't want to climb it - he wanted to 'fire' it!

The exit took us around the outside of the castle. The entire castle is ringed by statues of the Kings of Prussia (who became the Kings of Germany):

Why does a castle in the far south of Germany have a bunch of statues for kings from the far north of Germany? Because the Hoh.enzollern family originated in the south and ended up in Prussia due to marriage. Once they became the Kings of Germany they actually restored Hohenzol.lern Castle to serve as a monument to their family history.

Over The Border And Through The Woods With Grandmothers We Will Go

We arrived in Germany on the 4th of July. On July 8th our very first visitors arrived! Grandma Hopkins and GreatGrandma McColley came to check out our new home and help us get settled.

Unfortunately the only pictures I have of their two week visit are from our 'vacation within a vacation'.

On Sunday July 13th we drove to France. We arrived at our hotel in the early afternoon and decided to spend what was left of the day in Ob.ernai:

Ob.ernai is in the Alsace region of France:

After wandering through town square we had dinner at the restaurant inside the historic La Halle aux Bles. Grandma got the Alsace specialty 'backeoffe':

GreatGrandma and I both got tarte flambees:

 The only issue with our dinner is that all the portions were HUGE and we had way way too much food!

After dinner we had to take a picture in front of Saint-Odile's Fountain:

Directly behind the fountain was the stopping point for the carriage tour of Ob.ernai. The boys really, really wanted to go on it:

It was a lovely tour all the way through the city with only one small problem... the driver only spoke French and Dutch. We opted to have him give the tour in French... but we maybe understood 30% of what he was saying:

After our tour we decided to discuss what we had picked up over ice cream:

Saturday (a.k.a. Bastille Day) we spent in Strasbourg:

The first thing we spotted was a carousel in the middle of town:

We then toured the cathedral. Pearson, Brayton and I did the 'walk as quickly as you can' tour while the rest of our group took the more leisurely 'read things' tour:

We then ate lunch at a little cafe in the cathedral square. The boys had already had a quick lunch so they opted to go straight for dessert.

The waiter talked us into ordering two ice creams because they were 'very small':

Pearson did not agree with that description:

After lunch we took the river tour of St.rasbourg. It took us from the center of Petite France all the way out to the European Parliament via several locks:

After the river tour we visited the Museum of Archeology inside the Palais Rohan which had very cool door pulls:

We finished up our sightseeing by hopping on the mini-train which took us through areas that the river tour had missed. The boys weren't super interested however and spent the whole ride looking at their souvenirs:

The mini-train stopped near the carousel... so we went on it again:

Brayton spent most of the ride in the carriage with Grandma and Pearson... but moved over to the motorcycle with McColley on the last couple go arounds:

He liked the motorcycle so much he convinced GreatGrandma to go one more time so he could ride the motorcycle the entire time:

On Tuesday July 15th we headed back toward S.tuttgart but stopped to check out Bad.en-Bade.n. We wandered the city. First to find lunch and then to find the baths:

We left town and headed up into the surrounding hills to find Altes Schloss:

The castle is now in ruins but is still interesting to look around. It also hosts Europe's largest wind harp:

Plus the view down onto Ba.den-B.aden is amazing!

Here Be Dragons!

On Saturday April 26th we headed out to Wr.est Park for their St. George's Day Festival.

We arrived a bit after noon and made it to the Main Arena in time to see some maneuvers from WWI light cavalry:

The Festival was like a miniature History Live! with different 'time zones' set up around the gardens and several arenas with different shows happening all day.

We ended up not having very much time between the cavalry display and the next show we wanted to watch but we did have time to walk down to the Baroque Pavilion:

We made it back from our walk and still had time to find the perfect spot, plant our flags and prepare to watch the St. George's reenactment:

St. George first appeared to fight The Saracen who was holding the local peasants hostage:

But as St. George was chasing The Saracen away an evil dragon appeared!

Poor Pearson was terrified by the dragon (to the point that Brian actually had to take him away from the action):

St. George defeated the dragon! He killed it with his spear!

With the dragon slayed and the excitement still high, we headed to the medieval area where the boys were invited to join the army:

Both big boys were drafted into the Blue Army and then armed for their battle against the Red Army:

When it was time to go into battle McColley was ready:

And Brayton was not scared to take on any comers:

The battle continued even as the enemy changed... how dare the squire try to take away their swords!

Thankfully the squire survived and was available to do some knight training:

Who knows when another dragon might show up and need to be slayed?

After all that fighting and training we needed a break. Thankfully there were some real knights ready to joust!

A Historic Spring Break: Part Three

Tuesday April 8th was the last day of our little mini-vacation. We decided to spend the day at Ch.atsworth - the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devons.hire.

The house is amazing and packed full of art as evidenced by the Painted Hall:

The boys also got to have a bit of fun inside - we found the dress up clothes in one of the guest rooms we got to tour:

Only after finishing the interior tour where we able to go outside and see the newly restored gilt-covered front of the house:

The boys were immediately drawn to the cascade in the garden. The boys had fun watching daisies make their way down the stairs:

When that got boring it was time for a quick run through the field of daffodils:

After all that touring and running it was time for lunch. We had lunch in the stable area (which has been converted into a huge restaurant and shop complex) and then made our way to the farm:

The boys were very excited to see and pet all the baby animals:

But they were even more excited to play on the HUGE adventure playground. Daddy was on Helping Pearson Duty since he insisted on playing on the same structures as his big brothers:

The first couple of times down the big slide Daddy went with Pearson, but then we decided to let him try it all by himself:

 Of course, he then wanted to go down the slide about twenty more times!

While Pearson was sliding the big boys found the zip line:

Brayton even managed to do the whole thing all by himself!